WASHINGTON – A bipartisan bill to make Black Wall Street a national monument advanced out of a Senate committee with unanimous approval Tuesday, setting up the possibility for a full Senate vote before the end of the year.
The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved S.3543. It would establish the Historic Greenwood District – Black Wall Street National Monument as a unit of the National Park System. The bill now heads to the full Senate for a floor vote.
The district was home to one of the most prosperous Black communities in U.S. history just one generation from slavery. Anger, jealousy and racism drove a white mob, sanctioned by the city of Tulsa, to burn, bomb and loot the entire neighborhood.
The mob killed upwards of 300 Black men, women and children between the hours of May 31 and June 1, 1921, according to records from the Tulsa Historical Society.
Just two survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre remain–110-year-old Mother Viola Ford Fletcher and 110-year-old Mother Lessie Benningfield Randle. Greenwood community leaders are urging lawmakers to take swift action to protect and preserve the district for future generations.
“Urgency of now”
Dr. Tiffany Crutcher co-chairs the Historic Greenwood-Black Wall Street Coalition. It’s a coalition of 11 Tulsa-based organizations who continue a years-long effort to memorialize Black Wall Street as a national monument.
“We have a historic window to get this effort across the finish line,” Dr. Crutcher told the Black Wall Street Times. “Reflecting on Tulsa electing its first Black mayor, President Biden visiting the historic district during the centennial, and two living survivors who are both 110 years old. This bipartisan effort is about the urgency of now, and Tulsa is the spirit of hope that America needs.”
Bipartisan Black Wall Street bill would create Oklahoma’s first national monument
The bipartisan bill was first introduced by Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford and New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker in December 2023. It followed years of advocacy from survivors, descendants and community organizations.
After months of descendants visiting lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol, Senators expressed support for the bill at a hearing in May, 2024.
“While the community is committed to the future, we should as a nation also remember our past and learn from it,” Sen. Lankford (R-OK) told the subcommittee on National Parks. “North Tulsa remains a place of light and hope in the community,” Lankford testified. “They show their strength to overcome adversity and work towards reconciliation, which is something our nation should also do and never forget.”
Specifically, the bill would “preserve, protect, and interpret for the benefit of present and future generations resources associated with the Historic Greenwood District, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 and the role of each in the history of the State of Oklahoma and the United States.”
“A moment of racial reckoning”
Supporters on the coalition say establishing the Black Wall Street National Monument will lead to a more unified country in a time of extreme divisions.
“This is a moment of national reckoning with our history. The families who built Black Wall Street through ingenuity, hard work, and perseverance represented the best of America,” Historic Greenwood-Black Wall Street Coalition co-chair Reuben Gant stated. “By understanding how racist hatred and violence destroyed their rousing success story, we can emerge as a stronger, more connected nation on the other side.”
Black Wall Street National Monument: By any means necessary
The bill, however, would not provide reparations to the survivors or descendants of the government-sanctioned racial domestic terror attack. Recent local efforts to provide reparations through policies approved by a newly formed city commission have drawn criticism for not going far enough.
Meanwhile, Justice For Greenwood attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons represents the survivors. He faced setbacks in the courts. Most recently, the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected the case and refused to reconsider it in September.
In a final bid for justice before the end of the year, the Department of Justice agreed to perform the first-ever federal review of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Yet, it’s unclear what the report will lead to. The DOJ expects to release it before December 31, 2024.
Ultimately, if Congress chooses not to pass the Black Wall Street national monument bill, the coalition is urging President Biden to use his executive authority under the Antiquities Act to approve the designation himself.
“For the sake of these living witnesses to history and future generations, Congress and the President must act swiftly to ensure Greenwood’s story is enshrined and its lessons never forgotten,” Dr. Crutcher said.
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